Marquette

Call it stage fright, inexperience or both. But playing in its first Sweet 16 since 2000, Miami appeared completely overwhelmed by the moment Thursday night. The ACC's regular-season and tournament champion fell to Marquette 71-61 in the NCAA East Regional semifinals at the Verizon Center. It was as lopsided a 10-point game as you'll see. "All the things we wanted to do … we weren't able to do any of them," Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. That included controlling Marquette's dribble penetration, limiting offensive rebounds and making 3-pointers.

Buzz Williams attended a junior college. He barged his way into coaching there and earned his nickname in the process. Most telling, the top four scorers on the first of Williams' Sweet 16 teams at Marquette were junior-college transfers. So it is no surprise that the man charged with reviving Virginia Tech basketball has landed a JUCO player in his initial Hokies recruiting class. As first reported by CBSSports.com's Jon Rothstein on Monday, Shane Henry of Georgia Perimeter College is Virginia Tech-bound.

Davante Gardner doesn't start for Marquette's basketball team. He doesn't lead the Golden Eagles in scoring, rebounding or assists. Indeed, the most notable number associated with Gardner may be his weight - he carries 290 pounds on a 6-foot-8 frame. "I'm not athletic at all," Gardner said coyly. "I know how to use my body very well to get to the bucket. I just use my weight to push people around. " Syracuse knows this better than anyone. A junior from Suffolk's King's Fork High, Gardner pillaged the Orange for eight rebounds and a career-best 26 points last month in a 74-71 Marquette victory in Milwaukee.

Davante Gardner knows precisely what he needs to show professional basketball scouts, and it has little to do with his considerable skills. "I hear the same thing from everybody," Gardner said. "Have a motor, run the floor every time and get my body in shape. " Add that heavy dose of personal discipline to Gardner's deft shooting touch and knack for rebounding, mix in the right coach and team, and you could have an extended career, if not in the States then certainly overseas.

Davante Gardner knows precisely what he needs to show professional basketball scouts, and it has little to do with his considerable skills. "I hear the same thing from everybody," Gardner said. "Have a motor, run the floor every time and get my body in shape. " Add that heavy dose of personal discipline to Gardner's deft shooting touch and knack for rebounding, mix in the right coach and team, and you could have an extended career, if not in the States then certainly overseas.

There's little glamour in winning a January non-conference basketball game more than 1,000 miles away from home at the tail end of a week-long road trip through the snow belt. But what 18th-ranked Virginia's 94-88 victory against Marquette on Wednesday before 12,785 at Bradley Center lacked in glitter will be more than compensated for by satisfaction. The Cavaliers (8-2) won their sixth consecutive game and third in a road swing that's taken them to Marshall, Minnesota and Marquette since Dec. 20. While much of the Virginia athletic community celebrated New Year's in New Orleans with the football team at the Sugar Bowl, the basketball team was huddled in a Milwaukee hotel.

Buzz Williams attended a junior college. He barged his way into coaching there and earned his nickname in the process. Most telling, the top four scorers on the first of Williams' Sweet 16 teams at Marquette were junior-college transfers. So it is no surprise that the man charged with reviving Virginia Tech basketball has landed a JUCO player in his initial Hokies recruiting class. As first reported by CBSSports.com's Jon Rothstein on Monday, Shane Henry of Georgia Perimeter College is Virginia Tech-bound.

Karen Pearce Guilbert died Monday, March 5, 2001, at home after a short battle with cancer. She is survived by two daughters, Dr. Cynthia Cory of Tallahassee, Fla., and Leslie Cory Shoemaker of Marquette, Mich. She is also survived by brother, Mason Pearce and his son, Mason Jr., and brother, Phillip and his wife, Debbie Pearce, all of Marquette, and her husband, Jeffrey of Norfolk. There will be two gatherings to celebrate her remarkable life; one at her home by the bay and one in Marquette.

WOMEN William and Mary (2-2) at Marquette (2-2), 8 p.m.: The Tribe has lost two in a row after a 2-0 start, the latest a 71-58 setback at Radford. W&M is averaging nearly eight 3-pointers a game. The Golden Eagles also have lost two straight games. Krystal Ellis leads Marquette at 21.5 ppg, but she is questionable with a knee injury.

WASHINGTON - Syracuse basketball and Jim Boeheim couldn't have scripted a better 10th-anniversary soiree than Saturday's. A decade to the day after the Orange won its most recent regional championship, Boeheim's program struck again, smothering Marquette 55-39 in the East Regional final. Ten years ago, it was a singular talent, freshman Carmelo Anthony, who carried Syracuse to an Elite Eight victory over Oklahoma and, eventually, the Orange's first national championship. Syracuse advanced to this season's Final Four with the collective, specifically the 2-3 zone defense that has become Boeheim's trademark.

Davante Gardner doesn't start for Marquette's basketball team. He doesn't lead the Golden Eagles in scoring, rebounding or assists. Indeed, the most notable number associated with Gardner may be his weight - he carries 290 pounds on a 6-foot-8 frame. "I'm not athletic at all," Gardner said coyly. "I know how to use my body very well to get to the bucket. I just use my weight to push people around. " Syracuse knows this better than anyone. A junior from Suffolk's King's Fork High, Gardner pillaged the Orange for eight rebounds and a career-best 26 points last month in a 74-71 Marquette victory in Milwaukee.

Call it stage fright, inexperience or both. But playing in its first Sweet 16 since 2000, Miami appeared completely overwhelmed by the moment Thursday night. The ACC's regular-season and tournament champion fell to Marquette 71-61 in the NCAA East Regional semifinals at the Verizon Center. It was as lopsided a 10-point game as you'll see. "All the things we wanted to do … we weren't able to do any of them," Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. That included controlling Marquette's dribble penetration, limiting offensive rebounds and making 3-pointers.

Winning, as the saying goes, is contagious. Norfolk State's men's basketball team is doing its best to prove the adage true. The Spartans, coming off a 12-20 season, are off to a 4-2 start that includes a victory against Colonial Athletic Association preseason favorite Drexel and a two-point loss to No. 16 Marquette. Picked to finish fourth in the 13-team Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference this season, NSU is trying to take a page from the Spartans football team, which won its first MEAC title after being picked to finish fifth in the league.

Blaine Taylor doesn't spend hours filling out his mock NCAA tournament bracket, but "I have a TV," Old Dominion's head coach said. Thus technologically equipped, Taylor is well aware of the question: Have his Monarchs, 23-8 and the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season champions, done enough to earn an NCAA bid, regardless of the outcome of this weekend's CAA tournament? "You know those blind deals they do on TV?" said Taylor, referring to the résumés broadcasters debate without revealing which team they're discussing.

Though Bethel High's Jontel Evans said Tuesday he hasn't changed his mind about playing basketball at the University of Virginia, he admitted there are several questions about new basketball coach Tony Bennett he wants answered. Evans, a 5-foot-11 point guard who signed a letter of intent last July with U.Va., said he received a phone call Tuesday from Bennett, but they hadn't touched base as of early evening. Bennett, who spent the past three seasons as Washington State's coach, was announced Tuesday as U.Va.

Duke is tuning up for a run at the women's NCAA championship and Marquette is lined up for its turn at attaining respectability against the reigning national No. 1. The two tip off at 7 tonight in a second-round game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The winner advances to the Mideast Regional semifinals Sunday at the Constant Center in Norfolk, against the winner of Louisiana Tech and Texas Tech. There was bad news for Duke (28-3) Monday when sophomore forward Monique Currie, a starter who averages 12 points a game, sprained her right ankle at the end of practice.

Faisal Abraham loathed being judged by a test score. He resented having to delay his college basketball career for a year. But instead of lashing out at a system he could not change, Abraham made it work for him. Abraham, a 1992 Kecoughtan High School graduate, is a reserve freshman forward for Marquette. His playing time will be limited tonight when the Warriors face Duke in the NCAA Tournament's Southeast Regional semifinals at Thompson-Boling Arena. But Abraham's undeniable success since leaving Kecoughtan is not about points and rebounds.

MEN Old Dominion (1-2) at Marshall (1-3), 11:30 a.m. This is the first meeting since 1976-77. Shaquille Johnson leads Marshall with a 15.5 points-per-game average followed by Markel Humphrey at 13.3. Gerald Lee leads the Monarchs at 16.7 per game. The game is being played early to avoid a conflict with Marshall's 3:30 football game with Tulsa. Apprentice (4-1) at West Virginia Tech (5-2), 4. This starts a stretch for the Builders where they'll face four scholarship opponents in a 14-day period.

A quick look at today's regional semifinals: SOUTH REGIONAL No. 2 Texas (30-6) vs. No. 3 Stanford (28-7), 7:27 p.m.: Texas almost allowed Miami to come back from a 17-point deficit Sunday before taking a 75-72 victory. The Longhorns crushed Austin Peay 74-54 in the first round. Texas will hope to keep up the hot 3-point shooting it displayed against Miami, when they hit 13 of 26 from long distance. Stanford rides the shoulders of twin 7-footers Brook and Robin Lopez into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2001 after wins over Cornell and No. 6 Marquette.